Tag Archives: Molly

The Goodbye

via Jennifer Ann Mitchell Carroll

Thank you, Molly, for sharing your life with me.

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Sad News

Molly

We took our sweet Molly to the vet’s office this morning for a sudden nasty place on the side of her mouth. I thought she had been bitten or stung. The vet called, telling me that it looked like cancer, wanting to know what we wanted him to do. We had an honest, blunt discussion. I finally asked him to look at the place carefully, decide if he thought she was ‘fixable,’ and to call us back.

He called back, saying he was 99% sure it was malignant cancer. She is 15 years old, mostly deaf and has cataracts, as well as cysts, lumps, warts all over now. I asked if he thought she might have any good, fun, doggy time left to enjoy. He said, “yes,”  with antibiotics and pain meds to get her back to the best place possible.

We picked her up about 3 pm this afternoon. She is agitating for food, but we can’t feed her until tomorrow morning. We will then add an antibiotic pill and a pain pill for the day.

We knew this was coming, but the suddenness of this is a shock. We will make sure that we make every day we have left count, giving her as much joy as we can in whatever time remains.

(She is resting comfortably at my feet as I type this.) We have been so lucky to share her life.

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Clean Molly

CleanMolly

Sweet Molly is a Schnauzer/Cocker Spaniel cross we bought several years ago. I wanted a “lap dog,” and our pit bull, Bambi, was too big for that even when he was a puppy. Molly was going to be my sweet, lady-like, cuddly lap dog. She had a bubbly personality that offset our serious pit bull nicely. She acted a fool and made him laugh. She brightened up the whole family.

I got part of what I wanted. She is a good lap dog, though she’s a bit too large and heavy. We spend a good amount of time cuddling in my recliner and she does make all of us laugh. She didn’t get the memo about ‘sweet’ and ‘lady-like,’ though.

Her hunting skills put Bambi to shame. She runs all over the yard nose to the ground in patterns only she can appreciate. She sticks her nose into holes or anywhere she smells something interesting. She loves to pretend she’s super-brave – barking like a fiend when she thinks she’s on the trail. We can readily tell if she’s found something above her pay grade, though. Her bark changes to a high-pitched, ‘somebody help me’ bark. We all run to her aid, including Bambi, who then dispatches possums or other weird critters Molly has uncovered.

Lately Molly has come in covered from nose to tail with burrs. They’re little bitty and stick badly to her hair. The last few days she’s come in with a totally black, wet, burr-covered muzzle, similarly covered feet, and burrs all over. It has taken me about half an hour with a comb to get all the burrs out. She is not a happy camper.

We took her to be groomed this morning. I asked the groomer to ‘sheer her like a sheep’ short all over. The groomer would prefer to leave wonderful, cute ‘eyebrows,’ longer hair on her ears,  and a mustache, but I have to tell her no. SHE is not the one who has to bathe the dog at least every other day, or get the burrs out while Molly acts as if I’m torturing her. She is much happier, and much easier to repair when she looks like this. We call her “Sleek Molly,” or “Summer Molly” this time of year.

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